EXCLUSIVE: Brunello Cucinelli Talks About His Vision of Life, Values and More
MILAN — Conference calls about a company’s financial results generally focus on the numbers, the outlook and any business trends a chief executive officer may be seeing.
Then there are Brunello Cucinelli’s.
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Sure, he will also talk about the numbers — which are almost always good. But he is more likely to quote philosophers such as Horace, Cicero, Socrates or Aristotle, and blend these with a discussion of everything from the use of artificial intelligence to the latest medical research into longevity, the dignity of hard work to the humanistic condition.
It might seem to someone listening in for the first time an odd mixture, but to Cucinelli they are core to his beliefs of following a path aimed at the betterment of himself — and all of mankind.
It is for this, as much as for the success of his brand, that Cucinelli is the recipient of the 2024 John B. Fairchild Honor. Past recipients have been Ralph Lauren, Karl Lagerfeld, Leonard Lauder, Giorgio Armani, Miuccia Prada, Tommy Hilfiger and Maria Grazia Chiuri of Valentino and, now, Dior.
Typical of Cucinelli, when he was notified he would receive this year’s John B. Fairchild Honor, he said he considered the recognition “a tribute to the dignity of the work, to my people, to their creative genius and their industrious effort, as well as to our Umbrian land and its spirituality.”
Carefully chosen, these words reflect in one sentence Cucinelli’s ethics and vision of life. Dignifying manual work, pursuing creativity and reinforcing the connection with the territory have long been driving forces for the entrepreneur and designer.
A self-made man, he has built his namesake company to reach sales of more than 1 billion euros, but he prides himself on focusing on gradual growth, “with good taste, in a beautiful relationship with humanity.”
Asked about his dream project going forward, he said it is to see the company “last for 200 years without straying from these guidelines,” which also include balancing profit and giving back, and promoting the idea of “humanistic capitalism” and human sustainability. In fact, among personal highlights Cucinelli often refers to the invitation in 2021 by Italy’s then-Prime Minister Mario Draghi to speak at the G20 Summit in Rome about the latter two topics.
“I would like to be remembered for being a respectable and decent man who loved beauty,” he said in an interview from his headquarters in Solomeo, in Italy’s central Umbria region.
Indeed, in addition to developing a business centered on luxurious men’s and women’s fashion in the most precious fabrics, Cucinelli has beautified Solomeo over the years by restoring the medieval hamlet he bought in 1985, dubbing it “The Hamlet of the Spirit.” There, he has built a theater and an amphitheater; a winery with a vineyard, and a Monument to the Dignity of Man. There also are the Aurelian Neo-humanistic Academy, which has hosted seminars on philosophy, history, architecture and spirituality, and a school of arts and crafts that teaches masonry, gardening and farming, tailoring, knitting, cutting and sewing, darning and mending to train new generations of artisans.
Holding the role of executive chairman and creative director of the company he founded, Cucinelli is a staunch supporter of Made in Italy production, leveraging the expertise of the artisans in the Umbria region, and has committed to ensure the longevity and prosperity of the country’s pipeline and supply chain.
Likewise, his aim is to improve the conditions of workers by creating beautiful working spaces for the artisans who create the products for his namesake company, voicing his belief in the importance of erecting factories where “seeing the sky is inspiring, not a drawback,” and which contribute to the dignity of work, he has often said.
Born in Castel Rigone, about 10 miles away from Solomeo, the son of a farmer, Cucinelli imagines his sense of style was handed down by his father, who insisted that the furrows plowed should be “straight and accurate,” as per the classical conception and Aristotle — one of Cucinelli’s oft-quoted mentors.
For his contributions to fashion and the territory, he has received awards that he always considers “wondrous gifts,” but, in particular, he is often touched and fascinated by the “laudatio,” the motivations provided with the tribute, which, in his mind, “make the difference.”
The awards stand pride of place in his home in Solomeo, from the first, bestowed by Pitti Immagine in 2004, to the Knight of Labor honor received by Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano in 2010, followed two days later by an honorary degree from the Perugia University in “Philosophy and Ethics of Human Relations.”
Asked to single out others with a highly significant meaning, he spoke of the “Global Economy Prize for the World Economy” from Germany’s Kiel Institute in 2017 for “personifying the figure of the honorable merchant,” and, a year later, bestowed by President Sergio Mattarella, the Knight of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic for “having honored the Italian Republic.”
These are all highly symbolic in his view. “Being recognized in turn for my style and my work, for humanistic entrepreneurship, for being considered honorable and for paying tribute to my country made me feel even more responsible for the beauties of creation, committing to be an even better person,” he elaborated, responding to a question about the impact and value of these accolades.
Receiving the John B. Fairchild Honor is especially meaningful to Cucinelli, as he highlighted his longstanding relationship with the American market, with retailers such as Neiman Marcus, Saks or Barneys New York, which led him to recall his first trip to the U.S. back in 1985.
“I walked on the Verrazzano Bridge at sunset, marveling at the city I had only seen in postcards. I fell in love with New York; I was drunk on its beauty,” Cucinelli said. “I remember the surprise looking up at the skyscrapers, thinking about those who had built them over the years and the astonishing experience of being able to buy milk at midnight, which was unconceivable for us in Solomeo [where stores close at night].
“I do love how America always has an eye on the future and on innovation, but I admit that I continue to need the silence and the smells of my own town, our pace here is so different.”
As per Immanuel Kant, he related, “There are only two fascinating realities: the starry sky above us and the moral law within us. And looking at the sky and stars for me is always a source of inspiration.”
He said he considers New York and Los Angeles as key references, and that he makes a point of traveling to the West Coast once a year “for research.”
In addition to developing a loyal cluster of Silicon Valley tycoon customers, from LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman to Salesforce founder Marc Benioff and Amazon honcho Jeff Bezos, several Hollywood celebrities have been wearing the brand. Last year, Cucinelli turned 70 and he celebrated the milestone by staging a celebratory event in Solomeo, inviting 600 guests who ranged from his employees and journalists to the likes of Patrick Dempsey, Ashley Park and Ava Phillippe. Gwyneth Paltrow and Cameron Diaz have also visited Cucinelli in Solomeo, and were treated to rigatoni and mozzarella. Paltrow and Ryan Seacrest are neighbors, as they have houses in the area, he said.
Indirectly, Cucinelli’s history was referenced in the fourth series of “Emily in Paris,” as creator and producer Darren Star created the imaginary town of Solitano and the Umberto Muratori character, whose family produces cashmere.
“Darren came to Solomeo, he had read my book and wanted to know about the town,” recounted Cucinelli, who gifted Star a book on Roman emperor Hadrian. Asked if he supported the Netflix version of Solomeo and of his own brand, Cucinelli said “yes, it was such a beautiful allegory, and Darren paid homage to my father, who was called Umberto and was also a mason [which in Italian translates as muratore].”
On the other hand, the relationship with Benioff began in 2017, when he asked Cucinelli to be a guest at Dreamforce, Salesforce’s annual tech conference in San Francisco, and renewed the invitation the following year. This led to Cucinelli sending his own invitation to the first “Symposium on Soul and Economics” held in Solomeo in May 2019 and attended by Bezos; Dick Costolo, former CEO of Twitter; Hoffman; Ruzwana Bashir, founder and CEO of Peek.com; Drew Houston, CEO and founder of Dropbox; Lynn Jurich, cofounder and co-CEO of Sunrun, and Nirav Tolia, cofounder of Nextdoor.
“Humanizing technology, sharing questions about eternity and leaving a mark on earth” were some of the issues discussed at the time, Cucinelli said.
Even as he can quote philosophers from memory, Cucinelli remains as curious about the future as he is about the past. For instance, in May, Cucinelli for the second time hosted a three-day symposium in Solomeo, focused on “exploring the relationship between ethics and artificial intelligence.”
Further embracing technology, in July he launched a new website innovated through AI. Called Solomei AI, it “combines human creativity with the potential of technology.” The project took three years, since he formed a team of researchers in late summer 2021 to explore possible ways to adopt AI in the company’s activities, “respecting the human values we believe in.”
Cucinelli said that a key purpose with this tool was for people within his company and his customers to feel less threatened and concerned by AI. “The guiding principle of our work on humanistic AI has been and will continue to be the pursuit of a serene and hopeful attitude toward a technology that, I am certain, will bring benefits to all humanity,” he said.
Cucinelli has come a long way as he admitted that “I started with cashmere but I knew nothing about it, I used to play cards at the town bar before. But I wanted to do something that would be passed on from one generation to the next, that would stand the test of time. You don’t throw cashmere away.”
Learning to sew from his mother, when he was 25 he sold his first 53 women’s pullovers, a milestone moment representing the seeds of what would become his calling. They were in six colors, from azure to orange and light yellow, slim, and to be worn under a fitted jacket. He wanted them to be feminine and sexy and said they were somewhat inspired by Gianfranco Ferré’s style. He was driven by the idea of a Made in Italy product, leveraging the expertise of the artisans in the Umbria region, a storied knitwear hub.
He has often said that meeting students at the bar was actually his first place of learning about real life and his self-taught education, helping him acquire a taste for those that became his mentors, from Kant, Plinius, Saint Benedict and Epicurus to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Plato, Alexander the Great and Socrates, to name a few.
He is an avid reader and while he is interested in technology, in his mind the desirability of physical tomes beats e-books on all fronts.
So much so that Cucinelli is building a Universal Library in Solomeo, inspired by the Great Library of Alexandria, Egypt, one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world. To this end, he bought an 18th-century villa that he is restoring to house the library. The villa, surrounded by a park, spans over some 21,600 square feet and Cucinelli estimated the library will comprise between 400,000 and 500,000 books.
“The founding of libraries is like constructing public granaries,” said Cucinelli, quoting Emperor Hadrian. “The library is meant to last for the next 1,000 years.”
“Books indicate us the path,” mused Cucinelli, who in 2018 published his first book, “The Dream of Solomeo,” subtitled, “My life and the idea of humanistic capitalism” — a collection of his notes, he insisted, shying away from being called a writer.
“I’ve always been in love with books,” he continued, saying that he gifted each of his daughters with 1,000 books on their wedding days. “And I plan to give the same amount to each of my three grandchildren when they will marry.”
The library is being built through the Foundation Brunello and Federica Cucinelli, conceived to promote cultural activities and support people and the territory they live in. Among other projects, the foundation has helped fund the medieval village of Castelluccio di Norcia, which was seriously damaged by the 2016 earthquake and is located in the Umbria region, a two-hour drive from Cucinelli’s Solomeo headquarters.
In the past the entrepreneur invested in the preservation of the region’s other cultural assets, including donating 1 million euros to help restore the famous Etruscan Arch of Perugia, which dates to the third century B.C. In that city, located 10 miles from Solomeo, the foundation also financed the restoration of the Morlacchi Theater, dating back to 1778. The facades of the San Lorenzo Cathedral in Perugia, in Umbria, have been restored thanks to contributions from the foundation.
Aiming to secure the company’s longevity, in 2012, Cucinelli publicly listed it in Milan, and recalls it as “the most beautiful moment of our history at an entrepreneurial level.” At the time of the road show, he candidly dissuaded investors who were looking for fast gains through the IPO. He still stands by his mantra — “to grow in a healthy, gentle and graceful way” — and continues to believe it was the right decision for his company, learning to open up to the market and cherishing the exchange and relationships with and support of analysts and investors. So much so that, at the end of September, he held a “dinner of gratitude” at the Bourse with analysts, investors and journalists.
The company has indeed grown, as last year revenues exceeded 1.1 billion euros, the highest in its history. The milestone target was met five years sooner than expected, based on Cucinelli’s initial 2019 to 2028 10-year plan, which saw the company doubling sales by 2028. In the first nine months of 2024, sales rose 12.4 percent to 920.2 million euros, bucking the general slowdown trend.
Cucinelli continues to bolster the production facilities of his company while protecting Italian know-how, increasingly becoming a point of reference in the Umbria region. He is investing in doubling the company’s manufacturing plant by restoring an existing industrial site in Solomeo that covers eight hectares, or about 540,000 square feet, and plans to open new sites in Italy, in Penne and in Gubbio.
Earlier this year, he revealed he had acquired tailoring specialist Sartoria Eugubina, based in Gubbio, near Perugia and around 40 miles from his Solomeo headquarters, and will take on its 70 artisans.
This is in line with Cucinelli’s belief in the strength of menswear tailoring.
In 2013 Cucinelli acquired the production division of the prestigious Sartoria D’Avenza in Carrara, another example of Made in Italy excellence in the production of men’s suits.
In November last year Cucinelli presented his project for his new menswear manufacturing site, his “bella fabbrica [beautiful factory],” in Penne, Italy. The plant will be located in the Ponte di Sant’Antonio area of Penne and will be unveiled in spring 2025, covering 48,600 square feet and employing between 300 and 350 people. Located in the central region of Abruzzo, the town is historically a production hub that specializes in sartorial menswear. It is home to the storied Brioni brand.
Last year Cucinelli and Chanel signed a long-term agreement with Piergiorgio Cariaggi, president and CEO of Cariaggi Lanificio SpA. Under the terms of the deal, the Cariaggi family retained control of the namesake company with 51 percent of the shares, while Brunello Cucinelli and Chanel each have a 24.5 percent stake.
As for his own company, Cucinelli has structured it with two CEOs — Luca Lisandroni and Riccardo Stefanelli. His daughters Camilla and Carolina hold the roles of co-creative director and copresident of the Brunello Cucinelli company, and co-head of the designer brand’s women’s style team, respectively.
Cucinelli, though, continues to be actively involved, planning strategies and traveling around the world, curious about other cultures and markets.
One way to recover his energy, he revealed, is that he takes a nap every day from 1:45 to 2:10 p.m.
“It works wonders,” he said with a knowing smile.
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